One Year Later

First off, I want to say Happy World IBD Day!

I figured today would be the perfect day to give an update, as it was this time last year that I was officially diagnosed with Crohn’s! It’s crazy to think that it’s already been a year since I finally got the answers I so desperately needed. Looking back, it’s been one of the hardest years of my life. That being said, it has probably been the most influential year, and as I reflect I realize just how much good came out of it.

Comparing my life from last year to now is incredibly eye opening, as almost every aspect of my life has evolved.

May of 2019 I had just finished my first year at University of Nevada Reno. At the time, I thought I was leaving new yet incredibly strong friendships for only a few months. I had no idea that I wouldn’t be getting to reunite with them at the end of summer. I was also a pre-business major, getting ready to declare marketing as my major. I was coming home to relationships that at the time felt unbreakable. I was dealing with the peak of my symptoms, feeling the weakest I had ever felt in my life. And at the end of May of 2019, I was in the very beginning stages of processing my diagnosis. I was scared, depressed, and fearful for how this would alter my life.

Now here we are, May of 2020. I’m about to wrap up my first year at University of Washington Bothell/junior year of college. I’m now majoring in Elementary Education and preparing to begin student teaching this fall. While my core friends have remained the same, my relationships overall are entirely different. I have created new bonds that I will be forever grateful for, as they came into my life when I needed them most. As for my symptoms, I am in a much better place! For the first time in three years, I am finally able to keep weight on! No longer do the symptoms of Crohn’s dictate how I spend my day. While I’m not in full remission yet, I feel like I’m getting really close, which I never thought I would be able to say.

One of the most drastic differences between last year and now is the fact that we are in the midst of a pandemic. Having an inflammatory disease and being on an immunosuppressant is incredibly stressful during these times. Considering a minor cold could turn into a serious infection, I am constantly stressing over the Coronavirus. It’s interesting to see how people are responding to this situation. On the one hand, you can see that people can be selfish. It has been incredibly disheartening to see some people choosing not to take extra precautions, or complaining about having to wear a mask. On the other hand, there have been many stories of people coming together to support each other. We can see the capacity of empathy and sympathy that people have the potential for. Overall, being considered high risk during all this makes for these being weird times. All I know is I’m excited to get to hug my loved ones, and to go back to some sort of normalcy.

Overall, this year has shown me my resiliency, my patience, and my overall ambition for life. As hard of a year as it has been, I couldn’t be happier of who I’ve become as a person and who I have within my support system.

Thank you all for being invested in my journey and for showing an immense amount of compassion. I can’t imagine how hard of a journey this would have been without all of the support and positive messages.